The first Sunday after Epiphany has traditionally been reserved for celebrating the Baptism of Jesus. Originally, the baptism of Christ would be celebrated along with the arrival of the magi on Epiphany. At some point, the Catholic Church created a new feast day to focus solely on the baptism, and the Anglican and Lutheran denominations generally followed along. While we are not super “high church,” here at Eden, observing a traditional feast day gives us an opportunity to ponder the meaning of our faith practices, along with other Christians all over the world. Whether we were baptized as infants or as youth or as adults, whether we were baptized with a little water or a lot, or whether we have not yet been baptized at all, considering the history and practice of baptism helps us answer our own questions about what baptism is and why it matters.
That one of the primary rituals of our faith tradition involves water is not a surprise. As an element vital to the creation and sustaining of all life on earth, water was often seen by ancient peoples as divine, or having divine properties, and most ancient cultures explained the creation of life on earth as beginning in the water. And so water was vital in many early religious rituals.
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